Product Description

This 20th century masterpiece uses the traditional form of autobiography to explore some very untraditional themes. Under the guidance of a psychoanalyst an old man looks back over his life, exploring his motives and trying to make sense of things, but when he decides to abandon the treatment, his reminiscences are published by Doctor S as an act of revenge against the patient who has frustrated the doctor's own desire for complete understanding. In laying bare the disturbing power relations between therapist and subject, Svevo explores the dynamics of identity and self-knowledge in ways which link him with his great contemporaries, Joyce, Proust and Musil.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1063618 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

About the Author
William Weaver has translated Umberto Eco, Primo Levi, Italo Calvino and Roberto Calasso, among others. He is a professor at Bard College. His translation of Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveller is available in Everyman's Library.

Customer Reviews

Well worth reading
Although this book seems largely unknown to British readers it has an important place in European literature. Svevo was one of the first writers to be influenced by Freud and this novel deals with his family and romantic relationships in this light.
The narrator is very self-aware as he tells his life story as part of his therapy, and this gives a very interesting insight to his cigarette addiction, marriage, affair, business dealings... Although it's also evident that he's creating his own version of events that will rationalise his actions.
The writing is at times too prosaic for my tastes, but this adds to the realistic story, and is perhaps the most important part of the book - the fact that it is the ordinary events of life that matter most (and that must surely be what drew Svevo to the attention of James Joyce who was one of the first people to promote him).

Very rewarding
This book is an ironic twist on Freudian analysis. The protagonist (Zeno) is trying to give up smoking and, under the influence of the psychotherapist Dr. S., is reviewing the major events in his life to discover why he is finding it so difficult. Svevo was apprently not a fan of psychoanalysis (which was still in its infancy when the book was written) and his use of it as a framework is heavily ironic.
The chapters are structured around a few important events (the death of his father, marriage, an affair, a business failure) and these are not in themselves particularly special. The beauty of the book is the honesty with which Zeno records his thoughts and feelings. The attitudes he has are not always the ones most acceptible to the world, and it is this difference between his inner monologue and the way he behaves that sets the book apart. He is a weak and vain man, but he is a good man, something of an everyman. Because of this ordinariness, it was easy to identify with him (for me at least). This made the reading of an admittedly slowgoing book very easy indeed, and I recognised bits of myself time after time, which is a testament to Svevo's observation of people (and of himself). The book is slow and generally lacks a clear narrative, so won't be to everyone's taste, but I found it a very rewarding read.

Brilliant Italian novel with quite a prolonged narrative
Svevo's novel is intended to constitute the confessions of its narrator, a chain-smoking hypochondriac named Zeno Cosini. These confessions are produced at the behest of Zeno's psychoanalyst and take the form of a series of elliptical episodes, which cover the breadth of his life. Amongst other things, Zeno details his unpremeditated marriage proposal to a woman who he doesn't initially desire. In fact, much of the novel entails the narrator reflecting on his volatile relationships with others, particularly his brother-in-law Guido,his wife's sisters and his mistress.

The novel is humorous in places and provides an interesting insight into life, however fictional, in the city of Trieste. The justifications that Zeno provides for his, often morally reprehensible, actions are also quite interesting. Unfortunately, the narrative moves at a frustratingly slow pace and some of Zeno's musings are also slightly prolonged.